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A few months ago, Tim Adleman was wrapping up his senior year of college at Georgetown, wondering if he'd have another chance to pitch. On Monday, the right-hander marveled at having thrown seven hitless innings.

"There's no way I expected to come out here, and half a dozen starts or so, go and pitch seven no-hit innings," he said. "Not many people expect that -- in fact, I bet no one expects that in their career. It was a pretty unbelievable experience."

Adleman struck out six and walked one en route to his second win in his last three starts as Class A Short-Season Aberdeen blanked Staten Island, 6-0, at Ripken Stadium.

Baltimore's 24th-round pick in June retired the first 18 batters of the game before walking the leadoff batter, Eduardo Sosa, in the top of the seventh inning.

"It was definitely fun to be out there," Adleman said. "I'm just thankful the defense was so fantastic."

The right-hander faced 22 batters, inducing 10 ground balls before exiting due to pitch count. T.R. Keating came on in the eighth, but lost the no-hit bid, allowing the Yankees' only hit -- a single by Jose Mojica -- over two scoreless innings.

Adleman deflected praise to his teammates, citing a great defensive performance on the field behind him.

"There wasn't a couple plays that made you say, 'Wow,'" he said. "They made all of them like that. There's a bunch -- Sammie [Star] was fantastic at third, [shortstop Michael] Rooney saved a double, [Austin] Knight made a great play up the middle. Everybody made fantastic plays all night."

Adleman (2-2) improved his ERA to 2.74 with the win. He went 4-4 with a 5.51 ERA in his senior campaign with the Hoyas before beginning his career with Baltimore on June 22.

He cited his new two-seam fastball as a key to his success, using a new grip he learned playing catch with some teammates.

"I was just commanding the two-seamer tonight, that was the difference, I was able to put that in any spot I wanted," he said. "It's a new grip, and I went on the mound with it and was able to keep it moving down and away."

The Raleigh, N.C., native said it was "surreal" after he was drafted by the Orioles, telling his college the opportunity "is every kid's dream."

On Monday, he found himself living that dream, looking up at a scoreboard behind him full of zeros.

"What was cool about it was the other guy (Yankees starter Michael O'Brien) had a no-no through four as well," Adleman said. "He threw extremely well also. So it was kinda cool every time he put up a zero, I felt I had to go match him."

O'Brien (6-2) ended up allowing four runs over 5 1/3 frames to suffer the loss, while Adleman threw about 85 pitches in his eighth Minor League start.

"You always want to finish something like that, it doesn't come around too often," he said. "But I understood why he took me out, I was getting up in pitch count. It's all about development, that's more important than pushing your limit to get something that doesn't have a good chance of happening. It made sense that I was pulled after seven."

The 6-foot-5, 22-year-old said he noticed he had the no-hitter going around the fourth, right around when his teammates started keeping their distance on the bench.

Afterward, his cell phone lit up with text messages and calls from his family.

"I talked to my brother and mom and aunt," the North Carolina native said. "Some people sent me texts, which was nice. It was just fun out there."

Danny Wild is an editor for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.